@FleshToDust I think every large game company should have psychologists on staff! Not only to figure out how to drive ("manipulate") player behavior, but also to figure out how to make the games feel fun and compelling. Tapping into the brain's sense of flow, and framing identical mechanics in ways that feel rewarding rather than punishing, are things a psychologist can advise us on.

Speaking to the more general topic addressed here, though, I totally agree that mobile games (and increasingly other games) feel like way too much of a chore and not enough of a fun experience on its own merits.

Aside from Events, there's also the sense with energy systems that you don't want to "waste" your opportunities to grind for power/materials each day!

There is a difference between figuring out how to communicate better and figuring out how to manipulate people better. Specifically setting up the game to best cause a change in brain chemistry so that the user will continue paying for and playing a game they hate is inethical, especially since the majority of these games are aimed at children.

@MushroomCake28 my biggest issue is getting them to work around my cover system. Getting them to pick off the squishiest ally is easy, getting them to differentiate between an ally entrenched in cover to the point that their hit rate is virtually nil, and cycle around to get a better shot while keeping themselves out of your line of sight as much as possible is a horrible headache.

@Philosophus Vagus That is indeed trickier. If I had to think of something, I would draw a virtual straight line perpendicular from the enemy-ally line, and then test different position on that perpendicular line to see if a straight line from there gets to the target without interruption. After that, it would look for the smallest angle from which it can hit the target.

I disagree. That side character could be a backstabbing basterd that's secretly working for the enemy behind my back, for all I know. And my plan is actually super cool so he wants to talk me out of it!
Gibbs Rule #3: Don't believe what you are told. Double check!

Best RTP is XP! I'll admit that Ace is better for some parts but XP wins with quality and numbers, IMHO. I think Ace wins at ease of use right now, if you want a reason why it might still be the "Greatest".

@Isabella Ava I've grown to like this community over the years because most people are nice and supportive. Sure, I've encountered some crappy people, but most aren't like that. I think there are a fair few people here who have to cope with mental and physical illnesses\disabilities.

As a teacher I get the semester breaks, which is when I usually go full time on the game. I find that how that works is I work on it hard from 7 am - 11 am, then I take a break for the afternoon, and sometimes return from 5 - 9 pm.

When Jobs was in top, it wasn't so bad. It wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't terrible. And it's not just the prices. Also obsolete hw. cpu throttling that they desperately tried to keep secret, monopoly on iphone parts, monopoly on the app store, which also has hardcore policies to ensure publishing apps is as difficult as possible, unstable OS and the impossibility to downgrade,...

What is this requirement you're talking about? Suppose there is no direct requirement like you just busy irl or simply didn't have much time to dev the game or addicted to other game to care about your own game

But that will hyperdeflate the gold values. Because heroes don't talk when they go from point A to point B, it means this should also be generating gold. It should also generate gold when you load the game, because the characters were silent between saving and loading.

My bro needs to watch this. He's been ------thinking------- of writing something for years now, but still hasn't produced any results, despite saying he really ----------wants------------ to write something.

The more I learn about how complicated language is and how it actually works, the more I realize that our ability to communicate at all is a miracle! Honestly, once you factor in the complexity of humans, our diverse experiences and points of view, we shouldn't be able to understand each other as well as we do.

I know right?
Unfortunatly, doesn't matter how clearly you explain and articulate your point, here on the internet you are at the mercy of how people interprete what you wrote. It happens to me all the time, to either be misinterpreted or to misinterprete something myself and end up thinking that the other dude is an entitled p**ck for no reason